It was a bizarre finish yesterday to the AMC 17 & under championship game. Mean Streets Express, which coming into the final had dominated teams, was itself dominated in the first half by the Spiece Central Stars, falling behind, 45-19.

When the team of central Indiana players scored the first 16 points of the second half, the tired Mean Streets team decided to just run out the final 12 minutes (no shot clock in AAU) and the final was 61-19.

Six-foot-seven Matt Howard of Connersville and 6-foot-4 John Ashworth of Franklin Central were the big guns for Spiece Central.

Howard had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the 20 minutes of true game play. Ashworth heated up on the perimeter and hit for 15 points. He also had 25 points in a Saturday AMC win for this team.

"These guys really have a passion for each other and they knew in their last tournament they could have played better," said Spiece Central Stars coach Pat Mullin. "They had success here because they concentrated more game by game."